On October 3 2016, author Joseph Boyden was at Mount Allison as part of the President’s Speaker Series. The event took place in 3 acts, using each act as an opportunity to share a secret from his life and beginning each with a special musical interlude during which Boyden played on the jawharp and harmonica respectively. In act one, he shared that the act of creating and sitting down and writing scares him. In act two, he confessed to believing that hardly anyone would read his first novel, Three Day Road, and that in the process of creating he gave up many times. In the third and final act, he confessed to being a young rebel who always sets out to challenge other people’s expectations. Following his lecture, he held a question period during which many audience members asked for writing advice and probed further on some of the earlier themes. As emphasized throughout the lecture {insert word here}, or everybody counts and idea tied not only to our school, but also as a step towards reconciliation with First Nations peoples.…
There are many different journeys being undertaken by Michael McGirr in his story of his travels along the Hume Highway, Bypass: The Story of a Road. In his book, McGirr embarks on a quest to discover his identity and belonging hand in hand with revealing many of the Hume Highway's hidden stories. McGirr's search for his spiritual beliefs is also an integral aspect of Bypass, as his recent departure from the Jesuit priesthood not long before he completed the cycling feat from Sydney to Melbourne along the Hume Highway meant that his identity was no longer associated with the Jesuit priesthood. McGirr was effectively a 'nobody'. Although working as a Catholic priest for 20 years of his life provided him with a sense of direction and security in life, McGirr decided that being a Catholic priest was not for him anymore; this is later reaffirmed when he states that he does not miss saying Mass.…
The essays from Week Two and Week Three show many great techniques. These essays serve as models and give me great goals for my essay. In “One Afternoon” by John Rosenthal on page 174 when he is going through the records he talks about his feelings and his thoughts. This can be seen when he says “Patti Page’s ‘Doggie in the Window.’ I bought that? A small voice in the back of my mind said, Of course you did. And you still remember all of the lyrics.” Using this technique will help make my literacy narrative essay more interesting to read. In my essay I will use this method, when describing the first time I met my favorite author, Jamie Dodson, by saying, “He was sitting in a lawn chair outside of the shower building with his laptop plugged…
Set in 1919, following the end of World War I, the novel takes place in the wilderness of Northern Ontario and on the battlefields of France and Belgium. Niska, an Oji-Cree medicine woman, is the remnant of her native relatives who refused to assimilate in the 19th century. She rejected European beliefs and culture and continues to thrive in the bush in a manner befitting her and her traditions. Niska’s voice is one of two narratives that complete the novel. After getting word that her closest thing to living family, Elijah, is coming back from the war she paddles the three-day journey to meet him in town. She finds, however, that it is not Elijah but her nephew Xavier who has returned from battle. In an attempt to heal her only relative, who has clearly been sucked dry of his soul and has hardened with slaughter and turned hollow from morphine, she begins to recount the stories of her past. She believes that perhaps this will revive Xavier and the Three Day Road will not be one to his demise. Similarly, Xavier attempts to stumble over his story for his aunt and unearths ghosts of his bullet-riddled past.…
I think this is important because it is the first time Xavier expresses his hatred and desire to be violent towards Elijah, to the reader. To me, it becomes evident that Xavier number one priority is no longer to try and protect Elijah. This is another incident that builds up Xavier’s hatred towards Elijah.…
The form of the poem is not easy to determine. It consists of six stanzas of uneven length, which are, except for the first and fifth, again divided into sub-stanzas. The meter is irregular as well as the length of the verses and there is also no rhyme scheme. Cervantes plays very freely with the structure of poems. She does not use an established type of poem and ignores rhyme and meter, but she presents her words graphically in the form of stanzas, in separate but related sections. The six main parts are numbered. It can be assumed that the arrangement of the verses was done consciously and that it aims at a certain reception on the side of the reader. Each time a stanza or sub-stanza starts, a kind of pause emerges. This also allows the poem to have spatial and temporal leaps without transitions, but it also increases the difficulties concerning the understanding of the text. In addition to that, many things are only vaguely hinted or ambiguously presented. The inherent continuity of the poem is achieved by its themes and by its imagery.…
The roles of medicine, and its effects on the characters in Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, address the power that both traditional and modern methods had on Native Americans. When we think of medicine and healing, the images that usually come to mind are needles, pills, or doctors. These are recognized as more contemporary forms that we have become accustomed to today. The forms of healing that are not usually associated with medicine today are the traditional ways of the Native Americans. The role of traditional medicine is a reoccurring theme throughout Boyden’s novel, where he addresses its power, effectiveness, and spiritual significance in the healing of his main characters.…
In the novel, “Three Day Road”, by Joseph Boyden, the loss and regaining of identity is manifested in Xavier. Throughout the novel, as Xavier goes through the war, he feels as if he is losing his own identity as an aboriginal but begins to gain it back while with Niska. Within the beginning of the novel, Xavier starts off staying true to his aboriginal background, has a strong sense of morality, and understands his own identity. Xavier is a man who respects life, but as he goes through the war he loses that part of his identity a little. An example of when Xavier respects life is when he snares a marten. In the prologue of the novel, Xavier and Elijah are walking through a forest to see what they have snared, but when they find that the marten…
Three day road is Joseph Boyden’s first novel, that chronicles the war experience from the perspective of Canadian First Nations People. The main characters are Xavier and Elijah, with Niska being a supporting character. Elijah and Xavier are stationed throughout the trenches of France, during world war one, fighting German and French soldiers. The Novel is told in first person view, offering perspectives from both Xavier and Niska. While Elijah and Xavier come from the same place (the bushes near Moosehead) and share many of the same skills and beliefs, the differences between these two characters far outweigh the similarities. Elijah was raised by nuns at a residential school, and later moved to the bush with Xavier and Niska. The years he…
What one may seem like they are doing does not always correlate to their true intentions. It is important to understand the reasoning behind one's actions before passing judgement. In Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, Xavier struggles to adapt to the horrid truth of warfare, which requires him to act against his morals. Xavier is wrong to think that there is no obligation for him to act upon any situation unless it directly has an impact on him. Xavier attempts to show his skills as a great shot himself, only with the idea of trying to fit in with the group, but results in the complete opposite. As Xavier learns the truth that has become of his friend Elijah, he builds up the courage to do what is only best for the greater good. The harsh conditions as a soldier leads Xavier to change his view on the value of human life in order to preserve his own innocence.…
In the upcoming essay we’re about to do, I want to explore the ideas of Jack Kerouac's transformation throughout the book. When he wrote “On the Road.” people expect him to be this happy optimistic guy. Jack Kerouac was an example of youth and freedom. To everyone he was this person that changed everyone's life and even made a change to people's viewpoint of literature. He was someone that represented the Beat Generation and was even considered the “King of the Beat Generation”. But soon enough, it turns out that he’s become a whole different person. He has grown to old and can’t keep up with the present day. Someone that has turned tired of the image he has created of himself. An image where he wish he had never created. Jack Kerouac even said to himself, “Some sort of sea beatnik, tho anybody wants to call me a beatnik for THIS better try it if they dare.(27)” To explore the possibility of salvation he has met and to explain the purpose of this book to the audience.…
Sister Magdalene and Niska are authority figures for Xavier and Elijah, and their lessons follow the boys throughout Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. Niska teaches Xavier the strength and necessity of killing but not the desire to kill, while Sister Magdalene’s abuse strips Elijah of compassion and fuels his need for murder to regain his sense of power. Elijah’s experiences with Sister Magdalene teach him to talk his way out of trouble, which leads to his success overseas. Xavier’s heritage and Niska’s lessons in survival result in Xavier’s homecoming, while Elijah’s experiences with abuse, emasculation, and lack of family guidance lead to his death in Europe.…
Our lives do not always go as planned. Obstacles can unexpectedly ruin lives and change every aspect of it, for better, or for worse. We are all on this road of our lives just trying to find the right path to travel on to survive to live onto the next day. Along this road, many learn abilities and attributes inside themselves they never knew they had, no matter how difficult the journey may be. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Papa and the boy travel a long way and go through many obstacles which in the end changed the boys’ life, prioritized their actions, and helped them find the light to guide them onto their next destination.…
Throughout the book there are several variations of characters witnessing their acquaintances going through trauma & selfhood or in fact being the one under going these traits. For instance Xavier was the lead narrator for the story, he was also a cree soldier who fought for Canada during world war 1. Just like most soldiers after war, they need something to help them cope after witnessing all the gruesome experiences of war. Xavier used morphine to help him manage with killing elijah and life after war. The narration from the point of view from Xavier influences the themes of trauma and selfhood because we are able to view him from 2 perspectives, one being mental and one being physical. We see…
The short story “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury, takes place on the planet Venus-where it is always raining and the sun only comes out every seven years. Most of the children that live there cannot remember the sun, although Margot can. She had recently moved to Venus from Earth and remembers every detail about it, like the beauty of it and the many wonders it brings. However, Margot’s classmates are resentful of her considering she can remember something that they can only dream about. The lesson that is hinted at throughout the story is that when someone is envious or jealous of another they can do and say many things they are not proud of.…